For me, there is an overwhelming peace in front of this. It doesn't make any sense. I have two somewhat major events that I have been involved in planning that will likely be cancelled. I am someone who loves community and often feels isolated, like I'm missing out. Friendships are crucial to me, I want all the people around all the time, and of course in the wake of what is developing, it is looking like at least all but the very intimate few such events will be able to take place. And what is striking to me, is that while in the past this fact would have made me feel desperate and discouraged, today I feel peaceful.
I think it must be because this is so big, and there are no clear answers. It requires an attentiveness to Christ that permeates every moment. It feels very much like Jesus' call to Peter when He asked if He would leave with everyone else - where else would I go? There is no other response than to turn to Him.
And when we do this, the response is not fear, but grace. The grace to adjust our plans, to take things in stride, to make the sacrifices we need to for the sake of the vulnerable among us. It makes me feel so much more aware of people in my community that I seldom take the time to think of. I feel connected to the Body of Christ in a more full way, as collectively we wait for direction on how to proceed.
In his new book, "Where is God? Christian Faith in the Time of Great Uncertainty," Fr. Julian Carron tells us that, "hope is precisely what enables an authentic and radical realism that has no need to erase any part of what exists, in one sense or the other." This is truly the choice before each one of us. Tue hope does not mean we are not aware of what's going on, or that we somehow think God is going to take all of it away. It is precisely what allows us to face a situation as urgent as we are living without allowing fear to take over. It helps us to stay in front of reality, and to move with it.
For me, there has been a true mercy in all of this. Nobody could know how this would develop, and none of us knows what will continue to be asked of us as the weeks unfold. We will be asked to change, accommodate, sacrifice. And if our response to this is fear and panic, we will miss Jesus present in it. We must fight this urge to respond to the sensational around us. We need to tune out the noise and tune into Jesus, with hearts that are for our brothers and sisters among us. We must prepare diligently and with purpose, not to look out for ourselves, but as a way to better serve the vulnerable. We must reach out and make sure they have what they need.
We must continue to be in friendship with one another, to still do the things we are able (not everyting is cancelled yet). And we must not lose our hope as the days go on. We must live in the gladness that we are not created for ourselves, and that each sacrifice asked of us is a joy. To me, this is the great opportunity that a crisis of this magnitude presents to the world - it forces us to pay attention to Jesus in much deeper way.
It asks the question of all of us, "And what about you?" And the beauty of a question like that is that it pulls us out of the melancholy of our lives, and demands an answer. For many, the question will be lost. But for many more I pray, we will respond like St. Peter, "Where else would we go?" Only then, when we are truly all in with the Lord, can we ever hope of living times of crisis with joy.
Let's continue to pray for Christ to be close to us as we navigate this ever-changing situation. Peace to all of you.
"If a Christian truly lives an experience of faith, the certainty that it brings extends to the future; that is, it grounds a hope that enables you to face everything with a new gaze." (Fr. Julian Carron)
No comments :
Post a Comment